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Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine: Old Man Jazz
by Michael Pendragon
Some voices have been around."
Every now and then you hear one. It's got that worn around the edges sound. A little sad. A little weary. A little wistful. A little mellow. A little old.
A little like jazz.
Frankie Laine has been around as well. Kickin' around jazz clubs for 17 years before finally making it big. Sleeping on benches in Central Park. Working the dance marathon circuit back in the days of ...
read moreBackgrounder: Frankie Laine Jazz Spectacular
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the mid-1940s, Frankie Laine was an up-and-coming club singer with a jazz feel. His first recordings were in Los Angeles in 1944 and '45, but by the summer of 1946 he signed with the newly formed Mercury Records, where Mitch Miller was head of A&R. So began a string of jazz-flavored pop hits that included That's My Desire, By the River Sainte Marie, Black and Blue and others. No one up until that point could bring the vocal drama ...
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Nat King Cole and Frankie Laine
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
By the time Frank Sinatra arrived at Capitol Records in March 1953, Nat King Cole had been with the label since its start in 1942. During those years, in the mid-1940s, Cole set the standard for the relaxed, swinging jazz singer, starting with his appearance in the 1944 film Swing in the Saddle, singing By the River Sainte Mariewith his trio. By the late 1940s, Cole had begun to be featured on singles backed by a big band and with ...
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Frankie Laine: Jazz Spectacular
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Anyone who dismisses Frankie Laine as a camp pop singer really don't know enough about him. Of course, Laine is best known for recording an exhausting string of cap-gun Western-themed songs in the 1950s. But before selling his jazz soul for pop fame and fortune, Laine was an emotional jazz balladeer and a solid swinger of standards. Known as Mr. Rhythm, Laine in the late 1940s could bring his voice down to a confidential hush or open it up with ...
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